— 𝟐𝟎𝟎𝟔 —
𝐕𝐨𝐥𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐫𝐚, 𝐈𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐲

   "Brother, what is the meaning of this?" Caius demanded.

He had been abruptly pulled away from a riveting time.

Afton was the one to approach both him and Aro—first grabbing Caius and then going to Aro who had already tucked himself back into his trousers and sent Lucille on her way upon seeing Afton requesting their presence.

Seeing as Afton and Chelsea were a mated pair, neither of them ever joined in such festivities as an orgy.

As it would turn out, it was not Afton who needed the Masters, but rather he was informing them of Marcus's request for them.

Immediately.

Marcus looked up at Aro and Caius's arrival; both of them dressed impressively, and not one hair out of place.

You'd never be able to guess the activities they'd been up to before this.

"Yes, Marcus, what has happened?" Aro frowned, his face twisted into one of perplexity.

It was not like Marcus to request their presence... ever. It was always one of them calling upon him to join them—Marcus rarely ever needed anything from them. Let alone something that could not wait another few hours until the festivity ended.

Directly after arriving, Aro had held out his hand as a sign for Marcus to touch him. Marcus did so slowly, so slow that Aro thought he might even be messing with him to rile him up. Everyone in the castle knew that Aro liked to move fast—he only ever moved slowly in the rare circumstances he was addressing a human or out in the world surrounded by mortals.

But those instances were far and few between: the Volturi seldom dealt with humanity unless it was for sustenance or business.

It wasn't like being leaders of the vampire world paid anything, after all.

Thankfully, Marcus's palm landed in Aro's just a few seconds later than Aro would have liked, but it ended up there regardless.

The raven-haired overlord bowed his head while closing his eyes, it was much easier to focus that way.

Upon a single touch, Aro was instantly overloaded with information—every memory one has ever had. Every feeling, every touch, every sight, every sound; nothing was safe from Aro. It was akin to living an entire lifetime in the span of 3 seconds, and it could be more than overwhelming. It took Aro 150 years alone to fully understand and master his powers. 90 of those years where he wore gloves as he couldn't stand to touch people.

To not cripple at such an overwhelming influx of information.

Therefore, it was on Aro to focus and concentrate on finding only what he needed to.

It took only a second before Aro was tilting his head up with a loud gasp.

"Oh my,"

"What is it?" Caius snapped, never any less angry about his brothers being one step ahead of him.

"It would appear," Aro released Marcus's hand before turning to Caius. "That against all odds... the fates have finally chosen to give us a mate..."

Caius sneered—disbelief being the first emotion he felt. "Impossible,"

Aro opened his mouth, but surprisingly, Marcus cut him off. "And yet, it would seem that our bond is now interlinked with another in a flourishing mating bond, brother," Marcus replied despondently. "Do you truly believe that myself of all beings would attempt to play such trickery?"

Caius could not argue that; Marcus barely spoke as is. There was no way he would lie about something like this, not only that, but he had no reason to, especially when he was so caught up on Didyme. Unless time finally caught up to him and he was becoming delusional.

"How did you come to find this information?" Was finally what Caius settled on asking, red eyes intense and lips turned into a frown.

Aro was uncharacteristically quiet, turning his back to both of them and pacing relentlessly with his hands clasped. It was apparent their brother, ever the strategist, was in deep thought.

Marcus motioned his head to the large pile of books left on his table. "It is the only thing that makes sense after the flower incident six years ago—"

"The flower incident?!" Caius cut him off incredulously. "You are still caught up on that? It was nothing, and nothing has happened since! How can you have possibly concluded that to be caused by a mate?" He scoffed, now doubting his brother much more. "You are going insane."

They all knew that if a mate appeared, they would more than likely share one. It was hard to come to terms with at first but after three-thousand years together and no mate even appearing, they were all more than receptive and willing for such a thing.

They had done nearly everything together in their immortal lives, after all.

Of course, they had long since thought that they would never have a mate, but the world is always changing.

Marcus looked to Caius sternly, now irritated. Not that his irritation had anything on Caius—it was truly a skill at how angry Caius could get, and with no reason at that.

"I have felt this presence much over the past few years and possibly before that; you all have as well, no doubt. Tell me that you've never felt a sudden warmth, almost as though something is lurking over your shoulder only to turn around and find nothing?" Marcus reasoned with a raised brow.

Caius barked an easy. "No! Absolutely preposterous!"

Although his words were a lie, and Caius knew it internally. However, he had brushed it off as simply a nice feeling—especially when it appeared while he was alone in his art studio.

"Do not lie to yourself, brother, I have seen your thoughts..." Aro turned to them, finally rejoining the conversation.

Caius narrowed his eyes, war ready on his tongue. Aro spoke before Caius could insult him a million different ways in the span of five minutes.

"I have felt it too, and Marcus is right, these signs seem much more likely to be an exceptionally gifted mate... but whether she is vampire or human... we cannot be certain..."

Caius was now more than enraged. "So you are not only trying to peddle me on having a random soul-mate appear... but now you want to throw the idea of her being a human in my face? Barbaric! Ridiculous!"

Marcus piped up calmly. "Do not forget we were once human too, Caius, all cold ones were once human... if she is mortal then she will be changed. The signs are there, nevertheless, even if this 'presence' proves not to be our mate—there is still a bond leading us to a mate who is out in the world..."

"After three-thousand years a mate finally appears..."  Aro chuckled. "How absurd... but we must send a search party to find her and bring her back..."

Caius looked to Aro as though he was crazy, which he kind of was. Not that Aro liked to admit it, but Caius had no problem saying it out loud. "Are you mad? Even if this tall tale is true, how do you propose we go about finding a nameless mate with an unknown face? We don't even know what she sounds like, so trying to pinpoint a location based on accent is not an option. And Marcus's gift does not work in the way of tracking—he can only see the bond existing, not to where it is ending..."

Aro sighed as though the facts wounded him, his eyes sad and contemplating. "This is true..."

"We do not know how her gift works, brothers..." Marcus did not sound blank, he sounded nearly nervous. "If she is, in fact, a human and can somehow project herself here without physically being here—we have no clue what that entails. Can she see and hear us? If so, and she is indeed a human, there is no way that she is not terrified..."

Caius and Aro went quiet, staring at each other blankly as the realization hit. They had not had to play kind with humans for centuries, and in their home, they did not bother putting up a mask. Many vampires are scared of them—there is no telling how utterly terrified a human must be.

Let alone if she happened upon them in the trial... or let alone... a feeding.

Even Caius shivered at the thought of his mate seeing him ripping through and feeding on others of her own kind. How disturbing that must have been... how horrified she probably was.

"There is no way that she is a human..." Caius said firmly. "No human could have that strong of an ability without being turned..."

Aro was thoughtful, he no doubt held the most knowledge of gifted vampires. It was to be expected when that was the idea that he built his coven and his power on, the very thing that held him captivated for centuries.

Power.

He had never thirsted for something more, until now. Even he had to admit, the thought of a mate was appealing, nearly as appealing as all the power he had. But to have a mate on top of everything else he had built up over the last three thousand years?

Everything would surely be complete in his undead life.

"It is possible..." Aro decided, his voice the final say on the matter as it was no secret just how knowledgeable he was in turn of how the gifts of psychic humans would manifest in immortality. "But even Jane and Alec, our most talented guard and no doubt the most talented humans I have ever run across, did not possess such power while in their human state..." He suddenly got excited. "Imagine the possibilities our mate would have when gifted with immortality!"

"Is that truly all that is on your mind, brother?" Marcus asked. "I say that our mate might be human and this gift of theirs may have allowed them to unknowingly see us... for years! If our mate is indeed human, they no doubt think of us as monsters!"

Aro was looking at Marcus in an offended manner, but it slowly morphed into unease. Somehow, the thought of his mate being terrified of him and hiding away gave him more concern than the excitement of how gifted of an immortal they would make.

Caius spoke, for once not angry, simply indifferent to both their points of view. "She must be immortal, there is no way that a mortal is so gifted..."

Aro looked to Caius. "Then why would she not seek us out? If she, in fact, knows that we are her mates, as a vampire, there is no reason for her to avoid us."

"Oh, please..." Caius rolled his eyes. "There is plenty reason, you act as though our name is reputable in only manners positive. We are feared because we uphold the law with an iron fist and our coven is made of only the most powerful immortals!"

Aro had to agree with that, if not to pump himself up just a bit. "That is also true..."

Marcus muttered something as he walked back to the table, taking a seat and boredly eyeing the book in front of him. While his statement was quiet, with their hearing, they more than heard it.

"Not to mention you two are married..."

Aro and Caius both turned to Marcus with sharp glares.

"I barely consider myself married. Athenodora and Sulpicia are bound to leave soon... we may love our wives, but we are no longer in love with them..." Caius hissed, taking the words right out of Aro's mouth.

Aro and Sulpicia were in a slightly better place than Athenodora and Caius; but even then, Aro could no longer confidently say that he was in love with his wife of over a thousand years anymore.

But he would always have love and care for her, that would never change.

"We knew this day would come at some point, brother, as did our wives," Aro spoke matter-of-factly.

"I didn't," Caius spat. "I was perfectly content going mateless for the rest of my long eternity."

Aro frowned at Caius, clasping his hands together.

"Do not be so upset, Caius, this is a blessing, and we must treat it as such," Aro tittered, almost ready to lecture Caius for the fifth time this week.

"With another blood orgy?" Marcus questioned bluntly, delivering much-unneeded sass that had both the other leaders sending scalding looks his way.

"I don't understand why you are so against such activities... we are unmated... there is no shame in such acts every so often," Caius hissed. "Our wives certainly agree with such."

"Were, Caius, we were unmated," Aro quickly corrected. "And within the next few weeks, no doubt, we were married."

"As far as I am concerned we are still unmated, until I see this supposed mate with my own eyes, I refuse to believe nor act as though I have one." The blonde overlord expressed stubbornly, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Whatever you say, Caius, and let it be known that while I have a feeling our mate is a vampire let us still look in case she is mortal and we have the clock of mortality to beat..." Aro said, the last part coming out rather gravely.

Marcus and Caius shared a look.

"And how do we look for a mate of whom we have no idea, Aro?" Marcus questioned.

Aro's face fell, and he looked to both his friends—brothers—with a perilous look.

"I have not the slightest idea, dear brothers..."